1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Today we 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: are going to talk about Dr Raphael Limpken and you'll 5 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: see his name spelled a number of different ways because 6 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,599 Speaker 1: he was originally from Poland. And you'll see him described 7 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: as the person who coined the term genocide. He did 8 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: do that, but his contributions went way, way beyond just 9 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: coining a new word. He was really the driving force 10 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: behind the existence of the U N Convention on the 11 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This was 12 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: something that he pursued with a really single minded determination 13 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: for years. A lot of the time he had no 14 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: official backing, no funding, and not even enough to eat. 15 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: He had support from other people and organizations to get 16 00:00:57,880 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: all this done, but he was the one who did 17 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: most of the rallying of that support himself, usually at 18 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: the expense of his own health and well being. And 19 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: Raphael Lemkin coined the word genocide in nineteen forty four, 20 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 1: but of course, the practice of genocide maybe as old 21 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: as humanity. One possible explanation for the extinction of the 22 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:21,119 Speaker 1: Neanderthals is that they were deliberately and systematically killed by humans. 23 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: In terms of what's documented in the historical record, one 24 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: of the earliest events that could be described as genocide 25 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,959 Speaker 1: took place in four sixteen BC during the Peloponnesian War. 26 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: Athens lay siege to the island of Milos, which was 27 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:40,039 Speaker 1: neutral but more sympathetic towards Sparta. When Milos surrendered, the 28 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: Athenians killed all of the men and sold the women 29 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: and children into slavery. Many many instances of genocide followed 30 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,560 Speaker 1: after that all over the world. Elements of European colonization 31 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: of the America's starting in the sixteenth century and Cromwell's 32 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: conquest of Ireland in the seventeenth century, the Ching dynasty's 33 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: determination of the Zunger people in the eighteenth century, and 34 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: the Scramble for Africa and the nineteenth century have all 35 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: been described as genocide. The idea that international law should 36 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,919 Speaker 1: protect minorities and other vulnerable people is also much older 37 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: than the term genocide. In Europe, that idea goes back 38 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: at least as far as the Peace of Westphalia in 39 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 1: sixty eight. Among other provisions, the peace of Westphalia formalized 40 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: the idea of Europe as a collection of sovereign states 41 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 1: and outlined freedoms and protections for religious minorities in those states. 42 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,640 Speaker 1: In other words, by the time Raphael Lemkin was born 43 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:42,920 Speaker 1: on June dred, genocide had existed for millennia, and the 44 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: idea that international law should protect minorities. That idea had 45 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: existed for centuries. The language that we used to describe 46 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 1: it today just didn't exist yet. Lemkin was born on 47 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: a farm outside of Volcovisk, which was then in Poland. 48 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: Later that became part of Russia and it is now 49 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 1: in what is Bela Rus. The farm was about fourteen 50 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 1: miles or twenty three kilometers from town in a relatively 51 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: remote area. The farm itself was adjacent to a forest 52 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: and a lake. Lemkin was the middle of three brothers, 53 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,760 Speaker 1: although his young brother died in nineteen eighteen during the 54 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,680 Speaker 1: flu pandemic. He spent most of his boyhood playing and 55 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: doing chores on the farm and being taught by his mother, Bella, 56 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: who was an artist and an intellectual, and he was 57 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: aware of the concept of oppression from a really early age. 58 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: It was illegal for Jews to own or live on farms, 59 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 1: so in addition to paying the rent on the farm, 60 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: Raphael's father Joseph, had to bribe the local police for 61 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: them to be allowed to stay there. He was also 62 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: aware that this oppression was not just about laws and money. 63 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: In nineteen o six, the Russian Imperial Army carried out 64 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: a program against the Jewish community of bali Stock, about 65 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: fifty five miles or ninety kilometers away, and at least 66 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: seventy people were killed and as many as one hundred injured. 67 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: This awareness of persecution and of people being harmed by 68 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: those who might have been charged with helping them continued 69 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: to grow as Rafael got older. When he was eleven, 70 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: he read the novel Quo Vadis Narrative in the Time 71 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: of Nero, and one of the themes was Nero's persecution 72 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 1: of Christians in ancient Rome. He became really fixated on 73 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: this whole idea, and he started learning more and more 74 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: about similarly violence and oppressive events in history, and about 75 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,720 Speaker 1: the people who were the victims of those events. Eventually, 76 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: the Lemkin family moved into vocal Visk to give Rafael 77 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: and his brother more educational opportunities. Bella Lemkin was described 78 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,719 Speaker 1: as brilliant, but she and her husband wanted their children 79 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:43,599 Speaker 1: to have a broader education than she could give them 80 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: on her own. While they were living there, Rafael continued 81 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:51,600 Speaker 1: to have firsthand experience with anti Semitism and oppression, especially 82 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: after the German army occupied vocal Visc in nineteen fifteen. 83 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:59,919 Speaker 1: From the time he was young, Limkin demonstrated an incredible 84 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,160 Speaker 1: aptitude for languages. When he entered the University of Heidelberg 85 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,200 Speaker 1: and lavov he already knew seven of them. By the 86 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:10,359 Speaker 1: end of his life, he would know twelve different languages. 87 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 1: He decided a major in philology, which combines literature, history 88 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: and linguistics. I am very envious of his language skills, 89 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: but uh in one Lemkin changed his major two law, 90 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 1: and to understand why he did that, we actually need 91 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:27,599 Speaker 1: to back up for a moment and talk about the 92 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: Armenian genocide. Although the consensus among historians is that what 93 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: happened constitutes genocide, the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan disagree. 94 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:41,880 Speaker 1: They don't necessarily deny that there were massacres, but they 95 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: maintained that this was simply the unfortunate consequence of brutal 96 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: and bloody war rather than a planned attempt to exterminate 97 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,480 Speaker 1: a people. The Armenian genocide has been on our list 98 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:54,279 Speaker 1: for a full episode for a very long time, but 99 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: it is a huge and complex topic. Uh So we 100 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,159 Speaker 1: are not sure when exactly that will happen. So this 101 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: is the very basic version. Armenians are a linguistic and 102 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: ethnic group who lived today primarily in Armenia, but who 103 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 1: historically have lived in a much larger region of the 104 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 1: Caucasus Mountains, including what's now northeastern Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. 105 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: In the early twentieth century, all of this is part 106 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: of the Ottoman Empire, and in nineteen fifteen, the Ottoman 107 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:27,279 Speaker 1: Empire massacred an estimated one point five million Armenians. The 108 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,720 Speaker 1: Armenians were predominantly Christian and the Ottoman Empire was Muslim, 109 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: but this was not only about religion. In the late 110 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: nineteenth century, Armenians had started developing a national identity. The 111 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: Ottoman Empire viewed this growing sense of an Armenian nation 112 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: as a threat. Although several of Europe's great power saw 113 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,360 Speaker 1: a need to try to protect the Armenian people, these 114 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:52,679 Speaker 1: efforts had the opposite of the intended effect. The Ottoman 115 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,320 Speaker 1: Empire cracked down on Armenians, carrying out a series of 116 00:06:56,320 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: pograms between eighteen ninety four and eighteen ninety six, and 117 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: at this point it wasn't so much about destroying the 118 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 1: Armenians as it was about re establishing the dominance of 119 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: the Ottoman Empire in the area. But in nineteen o eight, 120 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: members of the Young Turk movement came to power in 121 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: the Ottoman Empire and made a short lived effort to 122 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 1: modernize and to offer some protections to its minority populations, 123 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: but all of that fell away during the Balkan Wars 124 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: and World War One, especially after the Ottoman Empire joined 125 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: the war on the side of the Central Powers. In 126 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen, Russia defeated the Ottoman army at the Battle 127 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 1: of Sarahkamish. Afterward, Armenians became a scapegoat, with Ottoman officials 128 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: blaming the loss on Armenians who had joined the Russian side, 129 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: and there were Armenians who did side with the Russians, 130 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:47,239 Speaker 1: but this whole thing was used as grounds for violent 131 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: suppression of the Armenians as a whole. In April of 132 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen, Armenian intellectuals and political leaders were rounded up 133 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: and later executed. The next months were marked with a 134 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: systematic deportation effort, concentration camps, death marches, massacres, and sexual 135 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: violence against women. Many of the people who survived the 136 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: direct violence later on died of exhaustion or starved to death. 137 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:17,400 Speaker 1: These events were known to the international community at the time. 138 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: On May nineteen fifteen, France, Russia, and Great Britain issued 139 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: a joint declaration which set, in part quote, for about 140 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: a month, the kurd and Turkish population of Armenia has 141 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 1: been massacring Armenians with the connivance and often assistance of 142 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:38,599 Speaker 1: Ottoman authorities. And that statement went on to say, quote 143 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: in view of these new crimes of Turkey against humanity 144 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: and civilization, the Allied governments announced publicly to the Sublime 145 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:50,319 Speaker 1: port that they will hold personally responsible for these crimes 146 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: all members of the Ottoman government and those of their 147 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: agents who are implicated in such massacres. Then, after the 148 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: war was over, the Central Powers signed Treaty of Seve 149 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: which included a provision for determining who had been responsible 150 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:08,120 Speaker 1: for the massacre of Armenians and who then bringing those 151 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 1: people to justice, but the new Turkish government that arose 152 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,840 Speaker 1: after the war rejected that treaty, and it's nineteen replacement 153 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:20,080 Speaker 1: included no such provision. Rafael Lemkin was about to turn 154 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: fifteen when all of this started, but it was six 155 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: years later that a connected event really drew his attention 156 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: to it and changed the focus of his life. And 157 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about that after we first have 158 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. On March fifteenth, ninete, while Rafael Limpkin 159 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:48,320 Speaker 1: was in college, an Armenian named Sohoman Tolerian assassinated Memed 160 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,240 Speaker 1: to Lot, who was also known as Talat Pasha, the 161 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 1: Ottoman Minister of the Interior. A Lot was widely recognized 162 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: as the architect of the massacres that had taken place 163 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifteen, and Hilarian's family had been killed in 164 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: those massacres. When he shot the Ottoman minister, he reportedly said, 165 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: this is for my mother. To Larrian was put on 166 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,840 Speaker 1: trial the following June, and this trial struck Lemkin as 167 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 1: deeply incongruous. To a Lot had not face trial for 168 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:20,839 Speaker 1: the massacres in any way. International laws governing the rules 169 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: of war and human rights didn't apply because the massacres 170 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: were committed by the Ottoman Empire in its own sovereign territory, 171 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: not against another sovereign nations people, but Tillian, whose crime 172 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 1: was on a far smaller scale, was being tried. When 173 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:41,440 Speaker 1: discussing this trial and class, Limkin noted this discrepancy, saying, quote, 174 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:44,360 Speaker 1: it is a crime for Tollirian to kill a man, 175 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 1: but it is not a crime for his oppressor to 176 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: kill more than a million men. He also noted that 177 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,600 Speaker 1: the idea of national sovereignty should not give a nation 178 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: the right to kill its own people with impunity. This 179 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 1: incident inspired Lemkin to change his major to so that 180 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:03,360 Speaker 1: he could work toward an international law that would apply 181 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,680 Speaker 1: to what the Armenians had faced. He graduated with a 182 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:12,040 Speaker 1: doctorate in law. In Another similar assassination took place in 183 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,800 Speaker 1: Paris that same year, and that reinforced Limpkin's commitment to 184 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:20,840 Speaker 1: advocate for an international law against genocide. This time, Shalom 185 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:26,320 Speaker 1: schwartz Bard assassinated Ukrainian official Simon pet Leura, who was 186 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:29,200 Speaker 1: believed to be responsible for a series of programs in 187 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: which swarts Bard's parents had been killed. Once again, an 188 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: individual person was being tried for a much smaller crime 189 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 1: than the ones committed by the person he had killed, 190 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,360 Speaker 1: and the person he had killed was not tried for 191 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:46,319 Speaker 1: those crimes at all. Both to Leirian and schwartz Bard 192 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:50,040 Speaker 1: were ultimately acquitted, with their defenses focusing on the mental 193 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,120 Speaker 1: trauma that they had each been through. After graduating, Lemkin 194 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,719 Speaker 1: moved to Warsaw and got a position working as a prosecutor. 195 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 1: He started writing books about national law, human rights, and genocide, 196 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: although he wasn't yet using that term. He wrote at 197 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,400 Speaker 1: a rate of about a book every year. In in in 198 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three, he had the opportunity to make his 199 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: first real effort at advocating for a law at the 200 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:18,000 Speaker 1: international level. He was invited to make a presentation at 201 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: the League of Nations conference in Madrid. The paper that 202 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: he wrote leading up to this conference included his definitions 203 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:29,199 Speaker 1: for two different but related crimes. One he called barbarity, 204 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: and this was a crime against people, especially acts of 205 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 1: extermination because of ethnic, religious, or social identity. The other 206 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: crime he called vandalism. Vandalism was a crime against a 207 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,720 Speaker 1: people's cultural heritage, and it included things like the destruction 208 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 1: of monuments and the outlawing of native languages. He wanted 209 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: to address both the physical presence of a group that 210 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:56,319 Speaker 1: groups very existence and the group's history and spiritual life. 211 00:12:56,559 --> 00:12:59,600 Speaker 1: But after he submitted his paper, he got a phone 212 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 1: call telling him that he was no longer invited to 213 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:06,440 Speaker 1: attend the conference in person. An anti Semitic newspaper in 214 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 1: Poland had written a scathing response to Lemkin's paper, criticizing 215 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 1: him for focusing on the protection of Jews and not 216 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:18,280 Speaker 1: of the Polish population as a whole. Afterward, the Minister 217 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:21,560 Speaker 1: of Justice decided that Lemkins should not attend the conference, 218 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,680 Speaker 1: and although his paper was discussed without his personally being there, 219 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: it didn't lead to any meaningful action. In the face 220 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 1: of all this criticism, Lemkin also had to resign as 221 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 1: a prosecutor, and he went into private law practice instead. 222 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:41,559 Speaker 1: A few years later, on August nine, Adolf Hitler gave 223 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:44,079 Speaker 1: a speech to his chief commanders at his home in 224 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: ober Salzburg. It said, in part quote, our strength lies 225 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 1: in our quickness and in our brutality. Genghis Khan has 226 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 1: sent millions of women and children into death knowingly and 227 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:59,120 Speaker 1: with a light heart. History sees in him only the 228 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: great founder of states. As to what week Western European 229 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 1: civilization asserts about me, that is of no account. I 230 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: have given the command, and I shall shoot everyone who 231 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,240 Speaker 1: utters one word of criticism. For the goal to be 232 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 1: obtained in the war is not that of reaching certain lines, 233 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 1: but of physically demolishing the opponent. And so for the 234 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:21,960 Speaker 1: present only in the East, I have put my death 235 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:26,200 Speaker 1: head formations in place, with the command relentlessly and without compassion, 236 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: to send into death many women and children of Polish 237 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 1: origin and language. Only thus can we gain the living 238 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:38,480 Speaker 1: space that we need. Who, after all, is today speaking 239 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 1: about the destruction of the Armenians. There is some debate 240 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: about whether the speech included that last sentence, because some 241 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: of the documents recording the speech do not include it, 242 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 1: and a primary one that does include it came from 243 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: an anonymous source. But regardless, less than two weeks later, 244 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: on September one, Hitler invaded Poland and started carrying out 245 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:03,440 Speaker 1: the extermination that he had described in the speech. At 246 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:06,400 Speaker 1: that point, Raphael Limpkin was still living in Warsaw, and 247 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: on September six, just ahead of German troops arrival there, 248 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: he tried to escape the city by train, but the 249 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: train that he was on was bombed, leading him and 250 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: some of the other survivors to take refuge in the woods. 251 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: He and a few other men traveled together and tried 252 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: to evade German troops, although some of them were killed 253 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 1: in another bombing not long afterward. Over the next two months, 254 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: Lemkin traveled with a continually changing group of refugees. Few 255 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:34,560 Speaker 1: of them had any provisions with them, so they had 256 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 1: to forage for food, sometimes stealing from crops in the 257 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 1: fields or occasionally getting help from sympathetic people that they met. 258 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 1: As often as he could, he encouraged people to escape. 259 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,640 Speaker 1: Based on mind comp and other writings, Lemkin knew that 260 00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:53,520 Speaker 1: Hitler was planning an extermination campaign much different from the 261 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: typical perils of warfare that the people he met often 262 00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: thought that they could survive. During these weeks when he 263 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,359 Speaker 1: was in flight, Lemkin's ultimate goal was to get to Lithuania, 264 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: which was at that moment neutral, and he thought he 265 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 1: could escape from there, but he also wanted to get 266 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: to his parents and try to convince them to go 267 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:15,480 Speaker 1: as well. He finally got to Volcovist by train disguising 268 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:19,360 Speaker 1: himself as a Russian peasant, including trading in his expensive 269 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: eyeglass frames for a cheaper pair so that they would 270 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:25,360 Speaker 1: not raise suspicions. He spent two days with his parents 271 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:27,920 Speaker 1: in late nineteen thirty nine, but he couldn't convince them 272 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 1: to leave. Limkin finally got to Lithuania in early nineteen forty. 273 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,760 Speaker 1: His week's long flight from the Germans prompted him to 274 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: give up the idea of going back to being a 275 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,920 Speaker 1: private lawyer and instead to focus on his work in 276 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: education and actively trying to get the international community to 277 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: stop such abuses. He got in touch with people he 278 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: knew in Sweden and the United States, trying to get 279 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,680 Speaker 1: a visa so he could get to a safer location 280 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: and continue his work. From there. He got an appointment 281 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,640 Speaker 1: teaching law at the University of Stockholm, and while he 282 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 1: was there he worked with the Swedish Foreign Ministry to 283 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:06,159 Speaker 1: gather information about human rights abuses in places where Sweden 284 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: had embassies and consulates. One of their findings was that 285 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: Germany was distributing rations and occupied territory based on nationality, 286 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 1: so Germans were getting ninety seven percent rations, Dutch people 287 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: were getting ninety The numbers got continually smaller, down to 288 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 1: Greeks who were getting thirty eight percent rations and Jews 289 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: who got twenty percent, which was not enough to sustain 290 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: life by one. Other parts of the world were becoming 291 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:35,919 Speaker 1: more aware of what the Nazi regime was doing. On August, 292 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: Winston Churchill gave an address in which he said, quote 293 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:44,440 Speaker 1: as his army's advance, whole districts are being exterminated. Scores 294 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:48,560 Speaker 1: of thousands, literally scores of thousands of executions in cold 295 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 1: blood are being perpetrated by the German police troops upon 296 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:56,080 Speaker 1: the Russian patriots who defend their native soil. Since the 297 00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:59,240 Speaker 1: Mongol invasions of Europe in the sixteenth century, there has 298 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:03,280 Speaker 1: never been methodical, merciless butchery on such a scale, or 299 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 1: approaching such a scale. And this is but the beginning. 300 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: Famine and pestilence have yet to follow. In the bloody 301 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,480 Speaker 1: ruts of Hitler's tanks. We are in the presence of 302 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: a crime without a name. That same year, Limpkin got 303 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,159 Speaker 1: an appointment teaching law at Duke University. Thanks to his 304 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: colleague Malcolm McDermott. He traveled to the United States via 305 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:28,200 Speaker 1: Russia and Japan, arriving in Seattle on April eighteenth nineteen 306 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,399 Speaker 1: forty one, when he got to Durham, North Carolina, he 307 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: was asked to give an address on his very first 308 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 1: evening there, and part of his topic was Hitler's plan 309 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:41,720 Speaker 1: have been exterminating entire people's in the territory that Germany 310 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:45,239 Speaker 1: was occupying. This was the first of many attempts to 311 00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: educate the people around him on what Hitler was planning 312 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 1: and doing. In nineteen forty two, Lemkin was appointed chief 313 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:55,399 Speaker 1: Consultant to the Board of Economic Warfare in Washington, d c. 314 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 1: And his first task there was to educate his colleagues 315 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:02,720 Speaker 1: about Hitler's plan to exterminations. He also wrote to President 316 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:06,159 Speaker 1: Franklin D. Roosevelt in a call for action. As he 317 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:09,560 Speaker 1: threw himself into this work, Limpkin's health started to suffer. 318 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: High blood pressure ran in his family, but stress and 319 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:17,080 Speaker 1: exhaustion were really making it worse. And as we alluded 320 00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:19,679 Speaker 1: to at the top of the episode, Lemkin finally coined 321 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: the term genocide in nine and we're going to talk 322 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:33,479 Speaker 1: about that after we have a little sponsor break. In 323 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 1: nineteen forty four, Raphael Limpkin published the seven d twelve 324 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:41,960 Speaker 1: page book Access Rule in Occupied Europe Laws of Occupation, 325 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 1: Analysis of Government Proposals for Redress. This book documented conditions 326 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: in Europe and finally named the crime that Roosevelt had 327 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 1: referenced in that nineteen forty one address we read from earlier. 328 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:58,159 Speaker 1: Limpkin wrote, quote, by genocide, we mean the destruction of 329 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: a nation or of an ethnic group. This new word, 330 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 1: coined by the author to denote an old practice in 331 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: its modern development, is made from the ancient Greek word genos, race, tribe, 332 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:14,639 Speaker 1: and the Latin side killing. He went on to explain, quote, 333 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction 334 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 1: of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of 335 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:26,639 Speaker 1: all members of a nation. It is intended rather to 336 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 1: signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the 337 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:35,040 Speaker 1: destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, 338 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:39,280 Speaker 1: with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. Genocide is 339 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:42,399 Speaker 1: directed against the national group as an entity, and the 340 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:47,159 Speaker 1: actions involved are directed against individuals not in their individual capacity, 341 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:51,160 Speaker 1: but as members of the national group. He also explained 342 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 1: how genocide happens this way, quote Genocide has two phases, 343 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:59,119 Speaker 1: one destruction of the national pattern of the oppressed group. 344 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: The other the imposition of the national pattern of the oppressor. 345 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 1: This imposition, in turn, may be made upon the oppressed population, 346 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:10,119 Speaker 1: which is allowed to remain, or upon the territory alone 347 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:13,399 Speaker 1: after removal of the population and the colonization of the 348 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,639 Speaker 1: area by the oppressor's own nationals. By this point, Lemkin 349 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 1: had started working as an advisor to U S Supreme 350 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:24,159 Speaker 1: Court Justice Robert Jackson. After World War Two. Jackson was 351 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,639 Speaker 1: the US Chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, and Limkin 352 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,639 Speaker 1: advised him in that role as well. Genocide was included 353 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:35,440 Speaker 1: in the indictments at Nuremberg, but to Lemkin's disappointment, not 354 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:39,119 Speaker 1: in the final judgment. The judgment itself also pertained to 355 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:43,359 Speaker 1: only actions that happened during wartime, not to atrocities that 356 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:47,159 Speaker 1: Germany had carried out before the war officially began. On 357 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 1: top of that disappointment, while he was in Nuremberg for 358 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:54,440 Speaker 1: the trials, Limkin learned that nearly his entire family had 359 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 1: been killed by Nazis, including his parents. At least forty 360 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 1: nine of his relatives were killed, with only his brother 361 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,680 Speaker 1: and his brother's family surviving. Not long after the end 362 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:08,199 Speaker 1: of the Nuremberg trials, Lemkin started planning to introduce a 363 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:12,439 Speaker 1: resolution on genocide at the United Nations. He went to 364 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,760 Speaker 1: the U n to quote enter into an international treaty 365 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 1: which would formulate genocide as an international crime, providing for 366 00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:23,520 Speaker 1: its prevention and punishment in time of peace and war. 367 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 1: And this required multiple steps. So first he needed to 368 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:31,159 Speaker 1: convince multiple nations to support a resolution calling for the 369 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 1: United Nations to draft a convention on genocide. He did 370 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:38,960 Speaker 1: this in nineteen forty six, drafting the resolution and personally 371 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:42,760 Speaker 1: meeting with delegates to encourage them to sign. Obviously, through 372 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: this entire process, his amazing fluency with languages was extremely helpful. Panama, Cuba, 373 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,800 Speaker 1: and India agreed to sponsor this resolution, which the General 374 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:58,359 Speaker 1: Assembly adopted on December eleventh, ninety six. It read, in 375 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: part quote, genocide the denial of the right of existence 376 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: to entire human groups, as homicide as the denial of 377 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 1: the right to live of individual human beings. Such denial 378 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: of the right to existence shocks the conscience of mankind, 379 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: resulting great losses to humanity in the form of cultural 380 00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:21,320 Speaker 1: and other contributions represented by those groups, and as contrary 381 00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:24,080 Speaker 1: to moral law and the spirit and aims of the 382 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:28,240 Speaker 1: United nations. The resolution went on to affirm that genocide 383 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:32,280 Speaker 1: is a crime which the civilized world condemns, and invite 384 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:36,440 Speaker 1: the member states to enact legislation to prevent and punish genocide. 385 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:41,359 Speaker 1: It recommended international cooperation and requested the Economic and Social 386 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,000 Speaker 1: Counsel to do the necessary research to drop a convention 387 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:49,080 Speaker 1: for the next General Assembly. A u N resolution isn't binding, 388 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,000 Speaker 1: so the next step was to draft a convention, which 389 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:55,320 Speaker 1: is a formal agreement among UN member states. In other words, 390 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,159 Speaker 1: it's a treaty. The u N Secretary General appointed Limbkin 391 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: to draft this convention. Lemkin had gotten a job teaching 392 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,280 Speaker 1: at Yale and he took a leave of absence to 393 00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 1: do it. I'll read Donna Due de Vaub of France, 394 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: the former judge at the International Military Tribunal, and Vespasian 395 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:17,359 Speaker 1: v Pella of Romania, president of the International Association of 396 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,200 Speaker 1: Penal Law, were part of the drafting process as well. 397 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,840 Speaker 1: The process of drafting this convention was a long series 398 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:27,880 Speaker 1: of back and forth and compromises, sometimes because of disagreements 399 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,919 Speaker 1: among these three men, and sometimes because of lobbying by 400 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: the nations that would ultimately need to ratify it. The 401 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,680 Speaker 1: treaty was not retroactive, but a number of UN member 402 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: states had ongoing issues that might be described as genocide. 403 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,920 Speaker 1: For example, Lemkin thought the convention should apply to political groups, 404 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:48,240 Speaker 1: but if it did, it would not have the support 405 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 1: of the U s s R, which had been carrying 406 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:55,359 Speaker 1: out systematic political persecution for decades. The United States was 407 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:58,639 Speaker 1: also concerned about the idea of cultural genocide as it 408 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,679 Speaker 1: might relate to black amor amikins. Even though this was 409 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:05,760 Speaker 1: during the Civil Rights movement and racist violence was ongoing, 410 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: it seemed unlikely potentially that the US would be charged 411 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: with trying to exterminate people of African descent, given that 412 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:19,280 Speaker 1: their population was increasing rather than decreasing, But the idea 413 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:23,800 Speaker 1: of cultural genocide was another matter entirely so, the United 414 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:26,280 Speaker 1: States was not likely to support the Convention if it 415 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 1: included cultural genocide, and as a side note, in nineteen 416 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,399 Speaker 1: fifty one, the Civil Rights Congress presented a two hundred 417 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:38,000 Speaker 1: plus page paper titled We Charged Genocide the Crime of 418 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:41,679 Speaker 1: Government against the Negro People, which did argue that the 419 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: US government had committed genocide, but that didn't go anywhere. 420 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:49,359 Speaker 1: There are also allegations that Lemkin himself was dismissive of 421 00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:52,560 Speaker 1: this argument, but neither the paper nor the response he 422 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 1: purportedly gave are among his personal documents. The negotiation wasn't 423 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:00,199 Speaker 1: just about removing language that one or more of the 424 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,919 Speaker 1: nations was wary of or wouldn't agree to. There were 425 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,240 Speaker 1: also some definitions that some nations wanted to have added, 426 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:11,399 Speaker 1: but we're not added into the final document. As one example, 427 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,960 Speaker 1: Japan had distributed opium during its occupation of China, so 428 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: China wanted narcotics distribution to be included as a component 429 00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:23,720 Speaker 1: of genocide. As this was happening, support for the convention 430 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:27,320 Speaker 1: was growing outside of the u N. The National Council 431 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: of Christians and Jews had established a Committee for an 432 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:35,480 Speaker 1: International Genocide Convention, with Lemkin its strategist. In September of 433 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,359 Speaker 1: nineteen forty eight, the committee submitted a petition to the 434 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,600 Speaker 1: u N which had signatures from one hundred sixty six 435 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:45,879 Speaker 1: non government organizations, which represented about two hundred million people 436 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:49,800 Speaker 1: from twenty eight nations. The end result of all of 437 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:53,679 Speaker 1: this negotiation was the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment 438 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,960 Speaker 1: of the Crime of Genocide, which was unanimously approved on 439 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:01,639 Speaker 1: December nine. As was the case with the earlier resolution. 440 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,879 Speaker 1: Limcoln had individually met with numerous delegates to explain the 441 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:08,840 Speaker 1: need for the convention and to encourage them to approve it. 442 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:14,160 Speaker 1: Article one. The contracting parties confirm that genocide, whether committed 443 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,159 Speaker 1: in time of peace or in time of war, is 444 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:20,639 Speaker 1: a crime under international law, which they undertake to prevent 445 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:25,840 Speaker 1: and to punish. Article two and the present Convention. Genocide 446 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:29,359 Speaker 1: means any of the following acts committed with intent to 447 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,600 Speaker 1: destroy and whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, 448 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,639 Speaker 1: or religious group. As such, a killing members of the group, 449 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,359 Speaker 1: be causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of 450 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:45,760 Speaker 1: the group see deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of 451 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,600 Speaker 1: life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole 452 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 1: or in part. D Imposing measures intended to prevent births 453 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:59,359 Speaker 1: within the group e. Forcibly transferring children of the group 454 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,639 Speaker 1: to another group. Article three. The following acts shall be 455 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: punishable A genocide B Conspiracy to commit genocide see direct 456 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:15,439 Speaker 1: and public incitement to commit genocide, D Attempt to commit 457 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:21,280 Speaker 1: genocide and E complicity in genocide. Article For persons committing 458 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:25,040 Speaker 1: genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article three, 459 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:30,240 Speaker 1: shall be punished whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials, 460 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:34,080 Speaker 1: or private individuals. From there, the Convention goes on to 461 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: call on nations to enact their own legislation related to genocide. 462 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,520 Speaker 1: It calls her persons charged with genocide to be tried 463 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,480 Speaker 1: in the territory where the act took place or by 464 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:49,200 Speaker 1: an international tribunal. Later articles include a number of definitions 465 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:53,640 Speaker 1: and procedures. Lemkin described some of these later articles as 466 00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: trojan horses. These were things that he thought weakened the 467 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: overall convention and put it at risk of total failure. 468 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:03,800 Speaker 1: Or Article fourteen gave it a ten year duration followed 469 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:08,360 Speaker 1: by five year renewals. Article fifteen rendered the Convention null 470 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:10,960 Speaker 1: and void if at any time there were fewer than 471 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 1: sixteen nations that were party to it. An Article sixteen 472 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,160 Speaker 1: allowed nations to request revisions at any time, with the 473 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: u n General Assembly deciding what to do about that request. 474 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:25,760 Speaker 1: Limpkin later said that he really regretted allowing these to 475 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,720 Speaker 1: be included in the final document, but that he also 476 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,320 Speaker 1: was not sure that the Convention could have made it 477 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: through another fight about them. Two days after the unanimous 478 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:39,040 Speaker 1: vote on the convention, twenty two nations signed it, signaling 479 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: their intent for each of their governments to ratify the treaty. 480 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 1: Not long after that, Lemkin was hospitalized, Although doctors never 481 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:50,800 Speaker 1: gave him a formal diagnosis, he called it genociditis and 482 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:53,960 Speaker 1: attributed it to his exhaustion from having worked so hard 483 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 1: on the convention and on getting it passed. As soon 484 00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: as he was out of the hospital, though, he was 485 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,760 Speaker 1: back at work lobbying nations to ratify the convention, and 486 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: this was an ongoing pattern for the rest of his life, 487 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:09,960 Speaker 1: with cycles of work and advocacy followed by hospitalizations and surgeries. 488 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,840 Speaker 1: The Genocide Convention came into force on January twelfth, nineteen 489 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: fifty one, which Limpkin described as quote a day of 490 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,920 Speaker 1: triumph for mankind and the most beautiful day of my life. 491 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 1: But even then he still wasn't done fighting for it. 492 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:25,680 Speaker 1: Later on in the nineteen fifties, there was a push 493 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,719 Speaker 1: to create an international Criminal Court, and part of this 494 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:33,200 Speaker 1: discussion involved abolishing the Genocide Convention and folding the prosecution 495 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,880 Speaker 1: of genocide up under the court. Limpkin once again stopped 496 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:39,520 Speaker 1: his other work and lobbied for the Genocide Convention to 497 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 1: remain in place. The Cold War ultimately derailed this whole plan, 498 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:46,840 Speaker 1: and the International Criminal Court was established much later. For 499 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 1: much of the time working on the Genocide Convention, Lemkin 500 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:54,360 Speaker 1: had been acting as a private citizen. Once the treaty 501 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,000 Speaker 1: was drafted, he had no official backing and he had 502 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: no funding. He frequently went hungry, and that continued later 503 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,120 Speaker 1: in his life. After the convention had come into effect. 504 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:08,800 Speaker 1: He continued to teach and to write books, including an autobiography, 505 00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: but if he wasn't teaching, he was trying to live 506 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: off a hundred dollars a month from the Jewish Labor 507 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:15,920 Speaker 1: Committee and a small amount of money he had been 508 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:19,480 Speaker 1: granted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany. 509 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:23,080 Speaker 1: He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize more than 510 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 1: once for all of this, but it was never awarded 511 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,800 Speaker 1: to him. On August nine, fifty nine, Lincoln died of 512 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: a heart attack. He collapsed at a bus stop. He 513 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:33,880 Speaker 1: was either on the way to or from a publisher's 514 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,520 Speaker 1: office to talk about the autobiography that he had been writing. 515 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,240 Speaker 1: The American Jewish Committee paid for his burial, and only 516 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:43,600 Speaker 1: seven people attended his grave side service. He had spent 517 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: the last years of his life living in the US, 518 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:48,240 Speaker 1: but he didn't live long enough to see the US 519 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:52,440 Speaker 1: ratify the Genocide Convention. Although the US was one of 520 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:56,240 Speaker 1: the first twenty two signatories, the ratification didn't happen until 521 00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:01,200 Speaker 1: November twenty five. And another thing that limpcoln Have did 522 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 1: not live to see is that in the years after 523 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 1: this convention came into effect, it really hasn't had the 524 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:10,520 Speaker 1: impact that he hoped that it would. He very clearly, 525 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 1: sincerely believed that an international law is the only way 526 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 1: to both prevent genocide and punish the people responsible for it. 527 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:19,520 Speaker 1: But I don't know if you've listened to our our 528 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,200 Speaker 1: podcast a lot, you have heard us talk about a 529 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:24,280 Speaker 1: lot of things that have happened in the years since 530 00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:27,960 Speaker 1: then that fit under various definitions that we read from 531 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 1: the treaty earlier in eighteen and recognition of the seventieth 532 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:37,400 Speaker 1: anniversary of the Genocide Convention, u N Secretary General Antonio 533 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: Guterres said, quote, since Nuremberg, we have failed to prevent 534 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: genocide in Cambodia, Rwanda and Strebanitza in the former Yugoslavia. 535 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 1: But in the past two decades we have at least 536 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:53,160 Speaker 1: started to hold perpetrators to account. The International Criminal Tribunal 537 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 1: for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, 538 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:00,800 Speaker 1: and the Extraordinary Chambers and the Courts of Cambodia have 539 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 1: all convicted perpetrators for the crime of genocide. The work 540 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:08,440 Speaker 1: of these courts reflects a welcome resolve to punish genocide. 541 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,360 Speaker 1: He went on to note that as of January, there 542 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,000 Speaker 1: were still forty five u N Member states that had 543 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:18,320 Speaker 1: not yet become a party to the Genocide Convention and 544 00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:21,200 Speaker 1: urged them to do so. To end on a more 545 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 1: hopeful note, like I said earlier, Raphael Limpkin was just 546 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 1: unshakably certain during his lifetime that an international law was 547 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:31,240 Speaker 1: what was needed to address this crime. And so to 548 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: end with a quote from the introduction to his autobiography, 549 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: which is called Totally Unofficial quote, I feel grateful to 550 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:41,680 Speaker 1: Providence for having chosen me as a messenger boy for 551 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:45,400 Speaker 1: this life saving idea. Do you have some listener mail 552 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: as well? I do, and it is a lot more 553 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:52,440 Speaker 1: um uplifting than what we have just talked about. This 554 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:55,720 Speaker 1: is from Mark. Mark says, good afternoon, ladies. My name 555 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:59,320 Speaker 1: is Mark. I don't usually read people's surnames on the 556 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 1: podcast because of privacy, but it becomes obvious. His name 557 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,920 Speaker 1: is Mark Dumas the A and his name, his middle name, 558 00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:10,080 Speaker 1: stands for Alexander. I'm a direct descendant of General Duma. 559 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:13,360 Speaker 1: Thank you for the awesome podcast. I'm a longtime listener, 560 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:16,680 Speaker 1: but a first time writer about my family. Two things 561 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:18,880 Speaker 1: I don't know if you have seen the YouTube video 562 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 1: of the French government moving the body of Alexander Dumat 563 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: pair to the Pantheon. It's pretty amazing. Second, from General 564 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 1: Dumont to my generation, there has been a Duma in 565 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:33,440 Speaker 1: uniform in every generation, either for France or for the US. 566 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:36,680 Speaker 1: All of us have been black. We have served in 567 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:39,479 Speaker 1: every major campaign from the Civil War to the War 568 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:42,600 Speaker 1: on Terror. And then he goes on to list how 569 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:45,719 Speaker 1: he served. His father served in World War two, grandfather 570 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:51,239 Speaker 1: World War One, ticking back all the way to the 571 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: fifty fourth Massachusetts Regiment, which we have a previous podcast on, 572 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:57,799 Speaker 1: and then that particular member of his family, Mark goes 573 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:01,880 Speaker 1: on to say, quote, his father was Alexandra Duma feasts 574 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:04,479 Speaker 1: and here we are. Keep up the good work, Mark. 575 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:07,400 Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Mark for this awesome letter. We 576 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 1: don't often get uh letters from people who are directly 577 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:14,440 Speaker 1: descended from the people that we talk about on the podcast. 578 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: He sent this after the episode came out on Tilma 579 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:21,360 Speaker 1: Alexandre Duma, which he had not yet had the opportunity 580 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 1: to hear us talk about that footage of moving Alexander 581 00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:28,520 Speaker 1: dumat Pair's body. So thank you again, Mark for sending 582 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:31,319 Speaker 1: us this awesome email. If you would like to write 583 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:33,680 Speaker 1: to us about this or any other podcast, were History 584 00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:36,160 Speaker 1: podcast at how stuff works dot com and we're also 585 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:38,840 Speaker 1: all over social media Missed in History and that is 586 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:43,520 Speaker 1: where you will find our Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 587 00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 1: You can come to our website, which is missing History 588 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:47,360 Speaker 1: dot com to find show notes for all the episodes 589 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,480 Speaker 1: Holly and I have worked on together, and a searchable 590 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:52,080 Speaker 1: archive of all of our episodes. And you can subscribe 591 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:54,879 Speaker 1: to our show on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart Radio app, 592 00:35:55,080 --> 00:36:02,239 Speaker 1: and where a rayls you get your podcasts. For more 593 00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:04,879 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, visit how staff 594 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:11,560 Speaker 1: works dot com